WORKMAN STREET: Wretched Lives In A Land Of Plenty: Wretched Lives In A Land Of Plenty

by Jean Ovide Bourdeau

This is – in some way – the sad story of a people living a life without expectations mainly during the Thirties, Forties and Fifties in stricken poverty ghettos in southwest Montréal. People condemned by circumstances to live a life without history and future. A situation here observed through the eyes of a boy, also caught up in the same poverty trap and wounded intellectually for a few years with a massive indoctrination program of servile obedience and enforced acceptance without question of a dogmatic belief system – in this case the French-Canadian medieval version of the Roman Catholic religion. It is laid out in a way that attempts to avoid the false historical narratives of politicians, petty bourgeoisie and religious pariahs infecting the rational discourse in the unfolding of this particular small part of Canadian history. It highlights the context in which this story takes place in direct and indirect ways by examining and commenting on the absence of responsibility and lack of accountability from the economically better off and more educated people in authority, including the majority of politicians, the church establishment and the old traditional professions in Québec, which as a whole chose to ignore the vast majority of the unfortunate in the various ghettos of poverty and despair in Québec. In the end, it brings out a ray of hope by suggesting Should the ingrained attitude against entrepreneurship exhibited by French-Canadians change for a more positive and less politically correct one, as well as provide a reduction of bureaucratic processes, than this community is bound to make a significant contribution to humanity. This is – in some way – the sad story of a people living a life without expectations mainly during the Thirties, Forties and Fifties in urban ghettoes of poverty in southwest Montréal – people condemned by circumstances to live a life of misery without history and future. A situation here observed through the eyes of a boy, also caught up in the same poverty trap and wounded intellectually for a few years with a massive indoctrination program of servile obedience and enforced acceptance without question of a dogmatic belief system – in this case the French-Canadian medieval version of Roman Catholicism. *** This story – with a bit of luck – is laid out in a way that attempts to avoid the false historical narratives of politicians, petty bourgeoisie, religious pariahs and other self-righteous personages infecting the rational discourse in the unfolding of this particular tiny part of Canadian history.

342 pages, Paperback

Published March 12, 2017